Chava is a golem, a creature made of clay, brought to life by a disgraced rabbi who dabbles in dark Kabbalistic magic. When her master, the husband who commissioned her, dies at sea on the voyage from Poland, she is unmoored and adrift as the ship arrives in New York in 1899.

Ahmad is a djinni, a being of fire, born in the ancient Syrian desert. Trapped in an old copper flask by a Bedouin wizard centuries ago, he is released accidentally by a tinsmith in a Lower Manhattan shop. Though he is no longer imprisoned, Ahmad is not entirely free – an unbreakable band of iron binds him to the physical world.

The Golem & The Djinni is their magical, unforgettable story; unlikely friends whose tenuous attachment challenges their opposing natures – until the night a terrifying incident drives them back into their separate worlds. But a powerful threat will soon bring Chava and Ahmad together again, challenging their existence and forcing them to make a fateful choice.

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I heard about this book few months back and everyone was talking about this book at that time and few groups even recommended this book, everyone seeming to be well impressed with it and it’s kind of genre which I usually like to read it so finally I picked up this book last month to give it a try.

So I am bit disappointed with this book and it’s not a bad book but it’s just that it didn’t meet my expectations levels. The book is bit slow in-terms of plot, nothing much exciting happens till half of the book – I didn’t care much about other characters which has to little to contribute to the story coming and going.

Though it’s a historical fantasy fiction set in 1899 – I never felt time period, what I mean is you will never feel that you are reading a book which is set in 1899. Though the book is based on two major cultures – Jewish and Arab – you won’t find yourself immersed in these cultures considering the time the characters lived in these communities.

Story begins with Chava (Golem) a creature made of clay, brought to life by a disgraced rabbi who dabbles in dark Kabbalistic magic and who’s master dies on route to America. We have ‘Ahmad’ a Jinni, a being of fire, born in the ancient Syrian desert – who was trapped inside copper flask for over a thousand years and released by tinsmith in a Lower Manhattan shop.

Slowly story builds up around these two character and many more minor characters though the two major characters doesn’t meet each other until half of the book is done. Here is where it become boring because there isn’t much going on in-terms of plot and many side character are introduced with sub-plot which doesn’t add’s any thing original plot line.

The story line at the end become really weird and looks far-fetched specially the ‘reincarnation’ stuff [Spoiler alert: the Jewish rabbi who created Golem is the reincarnation of the same guy who trapped Jinn inside copper flask and now he is bound to Jinn after a spell goes wrong – which means he will be reincarnated as long as Jinn is alive].

Ending was not really satisfactory and many threads are left open [Spoiler alert: Jinn giving the trapped rabbi soul to the fellow Jinn members to take care of it till he dies and he is still bound], may be there is second book in the series coming? And all the philosophical discussion about free will and God were unnecessary – as they don’t contribute anything to plot line.